With a great deal of effort, FC Bayern Munich have regained the lead in the Bundesliga. At the end of the 24th matchday, Munich beat league leaders ratiopharm Ulm 70:62 in a tough game.
It was a close game over the full 40 minutes, with Bayern only managing to open up a slight gap and secure the win in the final minutes. All 11 players used scored, with Johannes Voigtmann (10, 4/12 FG, 10 rebounds) and Carsen Edwards (10, 3/11) scoring the most points. As a team, Munich only shot 35.4 percent from the field. The top scorers for Ulm were former Munich players Nelson Weidemann (15) and Justinian Jessup (12).
Munich had to survive a moment of shock at the start. Voigtmann landed badly after taking a shot and remained on the floor for a short time. However, the center returned after a few minutes’ break. The visitors defended strongly to begin with, but were also somewhat limited in offense. Both teams were shooting below 30 percent from the floor after ten minutes, with Ulm leading 11:10.
Niels Giffey drained the first bucket from outside for Bayern after eleven minutes and his side then produced a small run. The home side seemed to pull away a little, but simple mistakes allowed Ulm to stay in the game and then spark an 11:2 run over four minutes before half-time, which was heralded by two buckets from downtown by German international Weidemann. Ulm took a 30:28 lead in with it at half-time.
Late Bayern run decides game
And the visitors kept their rhythm. Weidemann and Jessup scored again from outside, while Bayern got a small push from youngster Ivan Kharchenkov. Nevertheless, there was still something missing in the Bavarian team. Napier, who had been weak up to that point, equalized again with two threes, and the game went into the final period tied (47:47).
Neither team was able to open up a gap and it was only midway through the period that Munich seemed to edge the momentum slightly in its favor. Ulm left a lot lying under its basket, and Bayern was only marginally better, but managed to score from the foul line a number of times. With two minutes remaining, Voigtmann stretched the gap to 64:57 with a cut and then drew another foul a little later. Ulm could not come up with any ideas and had to go home with a defeat.
The win means that Munich has taken the lead again in the BBL table. Munich will be in action again on Thursday when it visits former Head Coach Pablo Laso and Baskonia in the EuroLeague. Ulm will host promoted Frankfurt in the BBL on Saturday (live on Dyn from 6:30 p.m.).
